


Faking It

by capcarolsdanver



Category: Captain Marvel (2019), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Series, everyone is alive and well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:42:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23104921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/capcarolsdanver/pseuds/capcarolsdanver
Summary: This was a request for a Carol Danvers fake dating fic that will be a multi-chapter series, likely 4 parts!Who doesn't love a fake dating fic? Stories come out about Carol and her.. sexual escapades. This could potentially be PR trouble for the Avengers so Tony and Steve convince Carol that maybe the best way out of this mess is to convince the public she is in a committed relationship.. with the reader, her best friend who has feelings for Carol, but believes her feelings aren't reciprocated. What could possibly go wrong??
Relationships: Carol Danvers/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 150





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Part 1 of a likely 4 part series! This is just mainly the set-up for the story. I've sort of mapped out where this is going but I will basically be writing each part as I go so if anyone has any feedback or thoughts about the series then let me know! I haven't written in a while so apologies if my writing's a little rusty!
> 
> Come find me on Tumblr to chat! @capcarolsdanver

“Tony, did you see this?” Tony looks up from his latest experiment to see Steve approaching him, eyebrows knitted together in concern.

“See what, Old Man?” Steve’s eyes darken slightly as his gaze meets Tony’s, who does a poor job at stifling a chuckle.

“Just take a look.” Steve holds his phone out and Tony takes it, looking at the screen for a moment before letting out a short breath of laughter.

“Oh man, looks like Danvers has found herself in some hot water, huh?” Tony looks back up at Steve, who still looks as stoic as ever, and he shrugs a little at the captain’s reaction. “Why so serious?”

Steve lets out a heavy sigh and offers Tony a stern expression. “How about reading the whole article instead of just the headline? This could be serious, Tony.”

Tony rolls his eyes at Steve’s words. “Always so dramatic, Cap,” he says, but nevertheless still follows Steve’s orders, reading the article. Once he finishes he takes a second before meeting Steve’s eyes again.

“Okay, yeah. You have a point.”

\------------------------

You sit at the breakfast bar of the Avengers compound, absentmindedly eating your cereal and scrolling through your Twitter feed on your phone. You’re used to mainly seeing all the regular, mundane tweets, so when the words “Captain Marvel” cross your screen, they definitely catch your eye.

The particular tweet you see features a link to a news article about Carol, so you click the link and furrow your brow as the headline appears.

“Captain Marvel Named Seducer of the Avengers” is displayed across the top of your screen, and though you’d like to laugh at the ridiculousness of the headline, you can’t help the feeling that washes over you.

You and Carol have always had a close relationship, where you constantly shared playful banter with each other, but also felt comfortable enough to show each other certain levels of affection. You were generally inseparable on a day-to-day basis, which had led other Avengers to question the relationship you both shared. However, it had never progressed any further than just a friendship.

Sometimes you wish this wasn’t the case. You were willing to admit to yourself that you felt something for Carol. Something much stronger than just friendly feelings. But you had seen first-hand how Carol was with women at the many parties and galas Tony would throw, and she had never looked at you the way she looked at those women, so you’d always assumed those feelings weren’t reciprocated. You had learnt to accept that that wouldn’t change, though every now and then you couldn’t help the occasional pang jealousy, much like the one you felt now.

Too focused on the headline still in front of you, you hardly notice Carol walking into the kitchen.

“Morning,” she says in greeting, smiling lazily at you before she turns to look for something to eat. She has clearly not been out of bed for long, her movements slightly sluggish and her eyes looking like they could easily fall closed again. You shake off your irrational feelings as best as you can, forcing a smirk on your face.

“Hey, Stud,” you tease. Your nickname earns a glance from Carol, who squints her eyes slightly, looking you over sceptically.

“What’s going on?”

“Oh, you haven’t seen the news this morning?” You continue to tease. Your words seem to pique Carol’s interest and she stops her search for food to fully turn her body to face you.

“What? No, why?”

“It looks like some of your.. ahem, intimate activities have been brought to light.” You hold your phone up. Carol’s eyes widen, any remnants of sleep completely gone, and she steps towards you.

“What do you mean? Let me see.”

She reaches for your phone but you’re quick to pull your arm back, holding it out of her reach. You lean back on the stool you’re perched on as Carol continues leaning forward to grab at your phone and you don’t realise you’re tipping backwards until it’s too late.

You yelp, grabbing at the front of Carol’s shirt in an attempt to save yourself from the inevitable fall. Carol is unaware of what’s happening until the stool tips too far back and she’s being pulled down along with you. You land hard on the floor, Carol’s body landing on top of yours, your faces mere inches apart.

You gasp for air, not even fully realising the position you’re in until Carol breathes out a soft laugh and you actually focus on her face, losing yourself in her eyes for a moment.

“Hey, Danvers. We need to-“ you and Carol both jump at the voice that suddenly sounds across the room, and you look away from Carol to see Tony and Steve entering the kitchen area. They spot you and Carol and she quickly moves off you and helps you to your feet.

“Wow, you really can’t keep it in your pants, can you?” Tony says.

“Excuse me?” Carol barks back, immediately on the defensive.

“Wait, you two?” Steve questions, gesturing between you and Carol in genuine confusion.

“What? No,” you begin to stutter, feeling your face flush at the obvious implications. Carol’s hand lands on your arm and she squeezes gently, letting you know you don’t have to continue.

“What do you guys want?” She says, clearly irritated and yet to remove her harsh glare from Tony.

“Let me guess. You haven’t seen the news?”

Carol glances over at you and you quickly realise that maybe you should have read further than just the headline of that article before making jokes about it. Perhaps this was more serious than you initially thought.

“Some woman you fooled around with at one of my parties apparently wasn’t completely satisfied by your service because she’s found a few of your other one night stands and spoken to some journalist.”

“Oh,” Carol says, looking a bit sheepish. “Which woman was it?”

“Uhh.. Madeline Thompson,” Tony tells her, glancing at the article on his phone.

Carol blinks blankly at Tony and he sighs at her, throwing his phone to her. She catches it and looks at the screen where there is a photo of the woman attached to the article.

“Oh. Her.” She misses the eye roll Tony sends her way. “Why does this matter, though?”

This time Steve speaks up. “Because she’s accusing the Avengers, and more specifically you, of using our position in the community to take advantage of innocent people and sleep with them. She’s saying that we aren’t in it for the right reasons. And to be honest, Carol, with your recent behaviour, a lot of people are believing it.”

“So what if people believe it? This really can’t be that big of a deal, can it?” You can see Carol growing a little frustrated, shifting her weight from one foot to the other and crossing her arms in front of her.

“It could be.” Steve continues speaking in an even tone in an effort to not irritate Carol any more. “Things could really get out of hand if people were to stop trusting us.”

“Okay, but are we forgetting that Tony was literally, like, the biggest playboy in the world at one point,” Carol says, throwing an arm in Tony’s direction before letting out a huff and crossing her arms again. Steve raises an amused eyebrow at Tony.

You reach forward, offering what you hope is a comforting hand to Carol’s shoulder.

“Hang on a second, this isn’t about me.” Tony scowls back at Carol. “Besides, I’m in a serious relationship with Pepper. That’s all that matters now. Everyone’s basically forgotten about all the other stuff. It’s called redemption, Danvers.”

It’s like a lightbulb suddenly lights up above both Tony and Steve’s head. Tony’s eyes widen at the same time that Steve snaps his head in Tony’s direction. They both seem to share a silent conversation before their eyes land on you and Carol.

Carol has her head turned to you, a soft smile on her face in thanks for your comfort. You return the smile before you notice the silence that has filled the room, looking up to find Tony and Steve looking between you and Carol with newfound interest.

“…Wait, what’s happening right now?” You question, letting your hand drop from Carol’s shoulder. Steve looks to Tony, shrugging in question. Tony seems to answer with a smirk before his eyes land on you and Carol again.

“You know, Carol, you could easily make these stories about you disappear.” Carol eyes Tony, unsure where he’s going with his words. “All you’d have to do is let the public see that you’re in a serious relationship. Take a page from my book.”

“Well that would be great, except for the fact that I’m not actually in a relationship,” Carol replies with a light roll of her eyes.

Steve clears his throat lightly, earning yours and Carol’s attention, and raises his eyebrows as if to help you understand what Tony’s thought process is. When you don’t get it straight away he gestures between you both with his head, eyebrows still raised.

It doesn’t take you long to catch on to what they’re thinking then and you’re quick to step forward.

“No way. Whatever you’re planning isn’t gonna happen. We already told you we aren’t together.”“Yeah, but it wouldn’t be hard at all for you to pass as a real couple. I mean, half of us have had our suspicions at one point or another- OW!” Tony scowls, rubbing his ribs where Steve had just elbowed him.

Steve lets out a sigh and brings his attention to Carol. “Carol, I’m sorry but this will very likely be the best way to get the media off our backs. This article only came out this morning and already people are attacking us over our intentions. If you both do this, it might dismiss the allegations against us, at least for now.”

It all made sense to you, but you also knew you had feelings for Carol, feelings that went further than just platonic. And though you didn’t have any indication that Carol returned those feelings, you still felt anxious at the thought that this could easily get messy.

Still, if it was the best thing for the team then how could you say no?  
Carol remains silent beside you, deep in thought, and Tony’s face seems to soften as he watches her.

“Come on, Danvers. You’ve gonna have to take one for the team here.”

Carol huffs and turns her head to look at you. You shrug your shoulder lightly in a way that lets her know it’s her decision to make and she takes in a deep breath, her eyes dropping to the ground for a short moment.

“Fine,” she says, releasing the breath. “We’ll do it.”

You can’t help it when your heart speeds up at her words. Well, you’re doing this and it seems like there’s no way out of it now. Steve smiles at Carol.

“Great. Let’s meet up in the briefing room in, say, an hour to go over the details?”

Carol weakly nods and Steve walks out of the room, Tony trailing him. As he passes Carol he pats her shoulder.

“This will work, Danvers. Everything will be fine,” he says, offering a sincere smile to Carol before following Steve out of the room.

You and Carol are left alone, sharing a dumbfounded look. You couldn’t have predicted that the very article you’d been making fun of Carol for earlier would land you both in this position.


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops this is late. Apologies but wow, a pandemic really can take it out on a person, huh? I’m hoping part 3 won’t take nearly as long. I think I like this chapter? Hopefully you enjoy this!! Any feedback is appreciated!
> 
> Please do not repost my writing anywhere without my permission.
> 
> Come find me on Tumblr to chat! @capcarolsdanver

Carol is sat next to you at the table in the briefing room, an unimpressed scowl on her face. You glance over at her every few seconds and her face doesn’t seem to change as Tony and Steve address the two of you. You, for the most part, have remained silent. You’re still pretty shocked to say the least at the events of the day so far.

“There’s been even more bad press since this morning,” Steve says and pauses, causing you to lift your eyes from Carol to look at him. “If you guys are in, there’s no backing out.”

“We’re in.” Carol states quickly, albeit begrudgingly. Steve looks at you for confirmation and you nod at him.

“Great,” he says, despite the situation being the exact opposite.

“Listen,” Tony starts. “Steve and I are fairly confident the two of you can pull this off without a hitch, so just as a general rule, trust your gut, okay?”

You and Carol nod in agreement, Carol still looking less than impressed but obviously willing to do whatever needs to be done.

“We will assist if needed, but like Tony said, we have full confidence in you that you can get the job done,” Steve adds on, smiling optimistically at you. This makes Carol chuckle slightly, the first time you’d seen the pout leave her face since she found out about the article.

“Spoken like a true Captain,” she teases, offering Steve a mocking salute. “We’ll do our best to keep this deep, dark secret of ours.”

“Speaking of deep, dark secrets,” you say. “Who can we tell? I mean, we practically live in a building full of spies and superheroes. Are we supposed to keep this from them?”

“You can tell whoever you want, as long as they’re with the Avengers. No one outside of this building can know.” You nod at Tony, just glad that you won’t have to keep up this charade around your closest friends.

“If this is successful, in a couple months you can just stage a breakup and everything will be like normal again.”

“A couple months!?” Carol exclaimed, causing you to jump slightly next to her.

“If you want to fix this problem you’ve caused for the team then it’s gotta be for the long haul. Sorry, kids.” Tony offers a small shrug, which does nothing to remove the pout that has found its way back onto Carol’s face.

Steve’s phone beeps, signalling a text message. He glances at it before standing up, obviously considering the meeting over.

“I trust you two to organise the first step by making your relationship public. Nothing too showy or everyone will see straight through it. We’ll go from there.” He smiles and nods before walking out of the room.

“Wait, so you guys aren’t even gonna tell us what we have to do?”

“It shouldn’t be too hard,” Tony says. “Just do what you would normally do, except, you know, act more couple-y.”

“Thanks for the stellar advice, Stark,” Carol deadpans. Tony chuckles, standing from his seat.

“Look, just start small, okay? At first Pepper and I didn’t announce anything. We just started getting seen a lot together. Attention quickly grew. Maybe start there?” He leaves you with that, nodding in goodbye and leaving you and Carol in the room alone.

Carol abruptly stands, letting out a groan and dragging her hands down her face.

“I can’t believe this.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” you say, reaching a reassuring hand out to Carol’s arm. “It can’t be that bad, right? It sounds like it’s just some public appearances, hand holding, maybe a few kisses. No big deal.”

You blush, not even being able to believe your own words.

Carol looks at you, her eyes scanning your face for a long moment and you feel your blush deepen at the intensity of her gaze. You softly clear your throat after another few moments, which seems to snap Carol out of whatever daze she had found herself in.

“Right. No big deal,” she says in a way that has you wondering who she’s trying to convince. She’s silent for a beat before her usual teasing smirk that you’ve grown so fond of appears on her face.

“So, did we need to practise fake kissing at all, or…?”

You push her shoulder and she laughs out loud. You can’t help but smile amusedly back at her.

“Not now, Danvers,” you dismiss, pushing yourself out of your seat. Carol leans on the edge of the table, her eyebrow raising as her eyes follow you.

“So later, then?” She jokes.

“Oh my god, shut up, jerk!’ You laugh, walking passed Carol to open the door and step out of the room.

Carol chuckles, smiling to herself before pushing herself from the table and rushing out of the door to catch up with you.

————————

You and Carol decided to take Tony’s advice and keep your first appearance simple. Just a casual day out to have lunch with each other.

There was a local restaurant not too far from the Avengers compound that you all liked to frequent, and people were very aware of this. It wasn’t exactly the shortest walk, so if you and Carol were going for a quick lunch together then you would usually take the much shorter drive.

Generally, though, if you all went there as a group, you would all walk together. More often than not, you would happen upon groups of fans hoping to get to drool over Steve or Thor, usually even Natasha. So you both know that you will very likely be seen together by taking the walk.

You walk towards the doors of the compound, stopping when you realise how nervous Carol appears to be.

“You okay?” You gently ask.

“I don’t know. Is this really the only option we’ve got?” You watch her fidget with her hands, very un-Carol-like.

“Maybe not, but Steve and Tony seem to think it’s the easiest.”

“Yeah, maybe for them,” you hear Carol mumble under her breath.

You sigh softly. “Come on. We’ve got this, okay?”

She nods, looking up from the ground.

“Have I apologised yet for bringing you into this mess?”

“Car, you don’t have to apologise. I’m happy to help.” You do your best to reassure her and wait for her to nod again before you walk out of the main doors and to the gates at the edge of the compound. A quick glance at Carol tells you she is still nervous.

You, of course, were just as nervous as her, if not even more. But you knew you would have to take the lead to get Carol through the first step here.

You were an Avenger, perhaps not as well known as Carol but enough that your past relationships had been widely discussed by fans and the press before. Up until now, Carol’s love life and much of her personal life in general had never really been public knowledge. So you knew that this was far out of her comfort zone.

“Come here,” you say, pulling her into a hug and rubbing her back to try to calm her nerves. You feel her arms wrap around your waist and her breath against your neck as she lets out a short sigh. You pull back from the embrace, looking her in the eye.

“Now, let’s do this.”

You hold your hand out. Carol looks from your hand to your face, and back to your hand as she reaches out and takes your hand, interlocking her fingers with yours.

Your friendship with Carol has always been close, though you’d never just held hands before. At least not like this. This is a new feeling, one you like a lot.

You start walking, very quickly realising how tense Carol is beside you. You tug slightly on her hand, pulling her closer to you and bumping her shoulder lightly with your own. She looks at you and you smile at her.

“Loosen up, Danvers,” you say. She rolls her eyes but you still see her lips form a smile.

“Sorry. This is just really weird.”

“Trust me, I know,” you laugh. “But we can’t let them know that. We’ve gotta convince them that we’ve been together long enough to be considered a serious relationship. You’ve gotta seem unbothered by that article and all the ones I’m sure have been written since.”

“Well I would be unbothered by it if it weren’t for Tony and Steve.”

You laugh quietly to yourself at Carol’s continued grumbling and glance up to see a group of fans who quite often stand off to the side of this path waiting for any appearance from the Avengers.

“Okay. It’s game time now, Carol.”

“Hmm?” She looks at you, slight confusion on her face.

“Don’t look, but I see a group of girls who are always waiting for any of us to walk down here.”

“Really?” Carol asks and begins turning her head before you subtly slap her arm. “Ow.”

“What did I just say?” You give her a glare which quickly melts away the second you hear Carol chuckle.  
“My bad,” she offers. You give the group of girls a quick glance again, attempting to be as subtle as possible.

“I think these are the girls who run those really popular Avengers blogs.”

“There are really popular Avengers blogs?” Carol asks disbelievingly.

“Yeah,” you nod. “One keeps posting photos of Steve and Bucky together.” You continue studying the group out of the corner of your eye. “Ooh, I think the one who’s obsessed with you is here, too!”

Carol squints her eyes at you. “Wait, are you fucking with me?” You laugh and shake your head. “How did I not know this was a thing?”

“I honestly don’t know. But this could be good for us.” You continue to walk, stealing the odd glance at the girls without being too obvious.

“So we just act like we don’t see them?” Carol asks, still clearly unsure about this whole situation.

“Mhmm. You know, like we’re that interested in each other that we don’t care about anyone else.”

“So, you’re saying that you’re not that interested in me that you don’t care about anyone else? Wow, that hurts,” Carol says, holding her free hand to her chest, feigning hurt. You shoulder bump her again through laughter.

“You’re such an idiot.”

You figure the group of girls have surely noticed you by now, but decide to pay them no more attention as you pass them on your way.

————————

You get to the restaurant pretty quickly after that, making sure to be seated at a table for two outside, in practically clear view.

Lunch is how it normally is with you two. You and Carol have always enjoyed each other’s company, since you first met, and that was obviously no different now. You eat and talk and joke together, and you almost forget why you even came to the restaurant today until Carol insists on paying because “you’re in this mess because of me”.

After a while you both stand from your table and you grab your handbag, adjusting the strap on your shoulder.

“You good to go?” Carol asks. You look at her, and something over her shoulder catches your attention. There’s a man standing on the other side of the street, his camera pointed straight at you.

Jumping into action, you lean over and press a quick kiss to Carol’s cheek, not missing the way she springs back slightly in shock, and grab her hand.

“Yeah, let’s go,” you rush out, leading her back towards the compound. You duck your head a little to hide the blush you can feel forming on your cheeks. Carol remains silent at your side for a few moments before speaking up.

“So, um. What was that?”

“Yeah, sorry. I, uh-“ you let out a nervous kind of laugh, embarrassed to be this flustered after a simple kiss on the cheek. “There was some guy with a camera. Thought we better keep up appearances.”

“Oh,” is all Carol says before you both find yourselves in a relatively comfortable silence for a good while.

When you notice that you’re beginning to approach where the group of girls were earlier, you press your body more into Carol’s side, resting your free hand on her arm, your other hand remaining in her grasp.

“I’m assuming they’ll still be here,” you say quietly. You feel Carol’s eyes on you, but you keep your eyes locked forward. You miss the soft smile that forms on her face as she studies you before she looks away, though she misses yours, too.

“There they are,” you say when you spot the girls. Carol glances over at them. It looks like there’s even more in their group now. One girl seems to notice you and hushes the group, pointing you out. Their conversations are made up of low whispers, hushed tones falling over the top of one another as they all excitedly chatter, not-so-subtly staring at you and Carol.

You avoid focusing on them too much, but you highly suspect at least one of them to be aiming their phone camera in your direction.

“That’s a good sign, right?” Carol asks, unsure but hopeful.

“I don’t know,” you shrug. “But all we can do now is hope this was a good start.”


	3. Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forever apologising over how long I take to update. I will try to get part 4 out ASAP but by now I know not to make any promises of when, haha! This took longer than I thought because I ended up re-writing a lot of the chapter and making it way longer than I ever intended. This part stands at just over 5.5k words. Hopefully it’s worth the wait! As always, feedback is always appreciated!
> 
> Please do not repost my writing anywhere without my permission.
> 
> Come find me on Tumblr to chat! @capcarolsdanver

“Not the best start,” Tony says as he and Steve join you and Carol in the briefing room. You stare at him, your mouth agape. 

“What?!” You and Carol were positive you were heading in the right direction after returning to the compound yesterday, so to say you were surprised by Tony’s words was an understatement. Steve puts his hand up to interrupt.

“Tony, didn’t I just say no more than a minute ago not to lead with that?”

“That’s correct,” Tony nods. “But come on, Cap. Did you really think I’d listen? It makes for a pretty dramatic entrance, don’t you think?” He asks you and Carol, although you both are still sitting in a state of confusion.

“Cap?” Carol says and Steve shakes his head at Tony.

“There’s a lot of positive attention you two have received since you were seen together yesterday. Most of the fans seem to be quite taken with the idea of the two of you together. Although, while Tony is just being Tony,” he says, earning an eye roll from the man beside him. “He does kind of have a point.”

You and Carol glance at each other, the worry obvious in Carol’s expression.

“There are some people online questioning the legitimacy of your relationship,” Steve continues. “Some are pointing out that it might seem odd for Carol to have her first public relationship so soon after that article was published.”

“So now what? We’ve already been caught out?” You ask.

“Not necessarily,” Steve says quickly, his reassuring tone as present as always. “We’re only one day in. People don’t know enough about your relationship yet to make a judgement. Besides, there will always be someone to question the legitimacy of anything. For all they know, you two could very well have been together for months already. Which is kind of what we want them to believe.”

“And how do we do that?”

“For now, nothing too over the top. Keep making some small public appearances, like you did yesterday. We do need to amp this up a little but just not too quickly. We need to be smart about this.” You and Carol nod. “Tony and I will figure out the next few steps and call you back in to walk you through it, okay?”

“You’ve got it,” you say, waving to Steve and Tony before you and Carol take your leave.

You head towards the main living area of the building, on your way towards the main door. You and Carol had already planned beforehand to make another appearance somewhere else today which luckily aligned with Steve and Tony’s plans.

“This may be the most intense mission I’ve ever been apart of,” you joke, earning a chuckle from Carol.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

You walk into the living room where you find Natasha, Bruce, Clint, Bucky and Sam all sitting together. They all look in your and Carol’s direction.

“You two got something to share with the group?” Nat loudly asks, waving her phone in the air. The rest of the group watching you expectantly.

You look at Carol and she nods back at you.

“We do, actually,” you announce.

“I so knew it! You owe me $50, Buck!” Sam exclaims. Bucky turns towards Sam, a fiery expression on his face, clearly ready to argue back.

“Before you children start fighting, how about you let the adults speak?” Carol warns and Bucky sheepishly shrinks back into his seat, muttering an apology as he does so.

Nat chuckles. “Well?”

“This.” You gesture between yourself and Carol. “It isn’t real.”

“It isn’t real?” Nat asks disbelievingly and you nod in confirmation. “You know we’ve seen the photos online, right?”

“Yeah, I figured,” you sigh. “But we aren’t together.”

“You do realise that you’ve told all of us, multiple times, that you aren’t together before. But you still expect us to believe that now?” Clint asks.

“Yeah, we do. Because it’s the truth. It’s all fake,” Carol says impatiently.

“Ask Steve and Tony if you don’t believe us. It was their idea,” you add.

They all sit in silence for a few moments, sharing looks between each other. You notice Nat’s eyes on you, studying you, and you fidget under her intense gaze. She’s always been able to read you so well.

“Why?” Bruce asks, genuine curiosity in his tone.

“These articles about me were starting to come out and-“

“And Captain America didn’t like the bad press?” Nat guesses with a chuckle and a shake of her head, knowing exactly what Steve was like.

“Something like that,” Carol replies. “If everyone could just keep this secret within the building that would be great.”

“Oh, and don’t tell Peter either.”

“Yeah, we love the kid but he documents literally everything. We don’t want him accidentally revealing our secret to the whole world,” Carol explains.

“That’s probably for the best,” you hear one of them say before they all share a laugh.

After you and Carol thank them all, you continue on your way towards the main door, walking through one of the many halls of the compound.

“What’s the plan for today, then?”

“Hmm,” you hum in thought before you both hear footsteps approaching behind you.

“Y/N.” You and Carol turn at Nat’s voice. “Mind if I talk to you for a second?”

“Of course not,” you say. Carol looks from Nat back to you and awkwardly gestures behind her.

“Guess I’ll wait by the door?”

You nod and Carol quickly glances between you and Nat again before she turns and heads on her way.

“What’s up?”

“Don’t ‘what’s up’ me,” Nat scolds, giving you a friendly nudge. “So what’s really going on with you and Captain Sparkles, hmm?” Her eyebrows dance suggestively.

“Nothing,” you say, perhaps a little too quickly. Nat gives you an unimpressed look and you hold up your hands in defence. “I swear. We’re only doing what Steve and Tony tell us to.”

“Okay,” Nat says after a beat. “And how do you feel about that?”

“What do you mean?” You ask, playing dumb and dropping your head to avoid Nat’s eyes at all cost.

“I mean,” she grabs your shoulders, steadying you and ducking her head to meet your gaze. “I know you. I know how into Carol you are. And if you ask me, she’s just as into you as well.”

“She’s not into me,” you scoff. “She’s into all the girls at Tony’s parties that she hooks up with. Have you ever seen her look at me like that?”

“Y/N. We both know that she doesn’t see those girls as any more than a one night stand. Of course she’s not going to look at you like that.”

You stare blankly at Nat for a second, her words catching you off guard. She smiles at you, as always reading you like an open book.

“Are you two trying to figure out where to go for your fake outing?” She asks, moving the subject along to give you space to consider her words that now play on your mind.

“Yeah,” you mumble out distractedly.

“Why don’t you go to that ice cream place you love? Make Danvers buy you a couple scoops.” She shrugs. “She’s the reason you’re in this mess, right?”

She gives you a knowing kind of expression which you can’t quite read before she’s heading back in the direction she came from. You stay there for a solid few seconds, going over the conversation in your head, before finally moving to catch up to Carol.

————————

You end up taking Nat’s advice, heading to the ice cream shop which, admittedly, you love way more than you probably should. Carol is the one to offer to pay for your ice cream, handing her card over before you even get the chance to resist.

You sit down at another outside table, Carol sitting opposite you, each with your own ice cream cup in hand.

“So what did Nat want to talk to you about earlier?” Carol asks.

“Oh, nothing really,” you dismiss. Carol watches you carefully as you eat your ice cream.

“Are you sure? You’ve been pretty quiet since we left.”

“Have I? Sorry, I didn’t notice.” In truth, you hadn’t actually noticed. Nat’s words had been playing on repeat since your conversation and you were too stuck in your own head to think about anything else.

Carol nods at you. She gives you a look as if she doesn’t believe you, though she doesn’t question you any further.

You both continue absentmindedly eating your ice cream in silence before your thoughts eventually get the better of you.

“Can I ask you a question?” You blurt out and Carol looks at you curiously.

“Of course.” She puts her ice cream cup down on the table to give you her full attention.

“The, um,” you look down at the table, entirely embarrassed you’re even about to ask this. 

“The girls that you meet at the parties. Do you ever see them more than once?”

Carol seems taken aback by your question, opening and closing her mouth before even forming a solid word.

“No, I don’t think I ever have.”

“Have you ever wanted to?”

“No,” she says without a hint of hesitation.

“Why not?” You ask, your curiosity completely taking over. “You don’t enjoy their company?”

Carol breathes out a short laugh. “Oh, trust me. I enjoy their company just fine in the moment,” she mumbles, lifting her plastic spoon to her mouth to eat some of her ice cream. When she looks back up, she finds your eyes already on her.

She places her spoon back down, clearing her throat. “None of them mean anything to me, you know? I’m sure you know just as well as I do that it’s hard for people like us to find someone that we can really share a connection with. And I’m certainly not looking for that when I talk to those women at Tony’s parties.”

She seems more and more flustered the longer she talks, so you decide to cut her some slack.

“I get it, Carol. I was just curious,” you say and she meets your eyes again before you notice her eyes moving to slowly study the details of your face, the second time in a matter of days that you’ve noticed her doing this.

Nat’s words suddenly play over in your head again and for just a second you allow yourself to buy into her theory.

Though you hadn’t necessarily watched every one of Carol’s interactions with everyone she met at Tony’s events, you’d seen enough to know that she generally gave nothing more than a quick survey of whoever she was interested in from across the room before excusing herself to go talk to them. Their conversations never seemed to last long before she would be taking their hand and leading them out with her.

You don’t need to know much to know that this was different, though.

You feel warm at the sudden possibility, as slight as it may be, of Carol liking you back.

You aren’t sure if you imagine it or not when Carol’s eyes seem to linger on your lips for a moment too long, fixated when you nervously wet them with your tongue. She only lifts her eyes at the sudden sound of your phone beeping in your pocket.

Carol shakes her head slightly, presumably to clear it, and stares at the table to gather her thoughts while you grab your phone out of your pocket to see a new text notification on your screen.

“Who is it?” She says when she notices you texting back.

“It’s just Nat.”

“Oh, right,” Carol says, squinting her eyes in thought for a second. “Is she messaging you about whatever you two talked about earlier?” She tries to ask it casually but you sense something else in her tone and look up.

“No, she’s just wondering when we’ll be back. Sounds like Peter’s organising some games night or something and wants to make sure we’ll be there.”

Your phone beeps again and you read Nat’s newest text teasing you about staying out late with Carol and you can’t stop the light smile that plays at your lips.

“What did she say?” Carol asks with a slight unease still lacing her tone.

“Why? You jealous, Danvers?” You tease, successfully moving the subject away from Nat’s text. You smirk at her as you put your phone back into your pocket. 

Carol rolls her eyes at you but she’s quick to drop the eye contact and something in the back of your mind tells you that you’re right on the money.

“No, I’m not jealous, jerk.”

“You sure? Being my fake girlfriend and all, I appreciate your commitment to the role, but jealousy is not necessary.”

Carol tries to hold back a smile but there’s still a glint of amusement in her eyes when she looks up at you, her cheeks a light shade of pink which you are an immediate fan of.

“You’re an ass.”

You laugh, pleased that you seem to have eased whatever tension Carol had been feeling. At least for the moment.

You fall into a comfortable silence while you both finish eating your ice cream and you get lost in a daydream again until Carol’s voice pulls you out of it.

“Y/N, looks like we’ve got company.” She tilts her head slightly in the direction of a lone paparazzo.

Luckily for you and majority of the team, you didn’t really rely on secret identities so much, Tony kind of setting the tone for everyone else when he originally revealed that he was Iron Man. A select few still kept their identities hidden as much as possible, though. Tony was persistent that Peter try to remain anonymous, at least until he was no longer a minor, but almost everyone else either had their identity revealed for them or took Tony’s lead and found it too difficult to keep denying allegations that they were, in fact, their alter egos.

The feeling you get at seeing a stranger taking photos of you like this is something you know you’ll likely never get used to. They often show up in places that you and the others frequent, but it still seems to take you by surprise every time you see them pointing their cameras at you.

In this case, though, as uncomfortable as you felt having a stranger there specifically to take photos of you, you knew this was a good thing for you and Carol.

“Alright, what should we do?” You ask.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you heard Steve and Tony. We need to start amping things up. Not much, but a little.”

Carol looks at you warily.

“What did you have in mind?”

You bite your lip in thought, Carol’s eyes once again dropping to them. This, of course, has an idea springing to your head. You just aren’t sure how good an idea it is.

“How about a kiss?” You rush out, Carol’s eyes snapping back up to your own.

“Excuse me?” Was all she could get out.

“Why don’t we kiss?” You repeat. “It’s not too much but it’s also enough that I’m sure it will get people talking.”

Carol slowly nods. “You’re right. It’s the perfect progression.”

“Should we do it now?” You ask as your nerves hit an all time high.

“As we leave,” Carol says and you nod in agreement. After a few moments, Carol takes a deep breath and releases it before taking both empty ice cream cups from the table to dispose of them, walking away from the table.

You take the moment alone to try to settle your nerves. Sure, you’ve thought about kissing Carol before, more than once. But never like this. It feels almost cruel of you to be putting yourself in this position. What the hell were you thinking? But you knew there was no way out now, and you just had to suck it up and get on with it.

You feel Carol’s hand on your shoulder to get your attention when she arrives back at the table and she smiles at you when you stand.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” you say, a slight uneasiness to your voice.

“I bet you kinda regret not taking me up on my offer to practise fake kissing now, huh?” She asks, forcing back a smile, and you shoot her a playful glare.

“Watch it, Danvers.”

She lets out a light laugh and lifts one of her hands to tuck a loose strand of hair behind your ear, your heart just about leaping out of your chest. She leaves her hand resting on your cheek and looks down to your lips before locking her eyes with yours, searching for any hesitation. When she doesn’t find any, she gently pulls your face towards hers, meeting your lips tentatively with her own.

The kiss is slow at first, the two of you completely unsure how to handle this new territory, but the more you move your lips against Carol’s, the more your confidence seems to grow.

You break apart only for the shortest moment as you readjust, your hands resting on Carol’s waist as you press closer to her. Carol’s hand shifts from your cheek to the nape of your neck and you melt further into the kiss when you feel her grip your hair lightly.

You’re about to take the kiss to the next level when you vaguely remember why this kiss is even happening. You force yourself to finally pull away from Carol, perhaps a second or two too late, and rest your forehead against hers.

You both let out heavy breaths while you try to steady your heartbeat, and if Carol’s state is anything to go by, she’s trying to do the same.

“Wow,” you whisper.

“Yeah, guess we didn’t need to practise after all,” Carol says, smirking when you let out a laugh and push her back.

She smiles at you cheekily before grabbing your hand, stepping backwards to pull you along before stepping back into place next to you.

————————

Walking back through the doors of the Avengers compound, you can already hear everyone’s voices and laughter coming from the large games room that Tony had designed upon Peter’s request. He had insisted that it was a necessity, and how was Tony to deny the kid?

Mostly everyone besides a few are sat on the couches towards the back of the room and you spot Nat amongst the group. She meets your eye before her gaze drops down between you and Carol and she smirks.

You look down between you to realise that your hands are still clasped together, fingers tightly interlocked. Carol seems completely oblivious, a soft smile on her face as she looks around the room at all your friends.

You turn your head back to Nat, who winks at you and you can’t help the ridiculous smile that finds its way on your face as you shake your head. She gestures to Peter, who is sat in front of her talking animatedly as usual, a huge grin on his face. You didn’t think it was possible but when he spots you and Carol his grin grows even wider.

“Here they are now!” He exclaims, leaping over the back of the couch he was sitting on and bounding over to you. With no time to react, he already has you and Carol wrapped up in a tight hug.

“I’m so happy for you two!” He says, his voice muffled somewhere in the middle of the hug.

“Uh, what for, Pete?” Carol asks.

He suddenly pulls back from the hug and gives Carol an incredulous look.

“‘What for, Pete!?’ Don’t ‘what for, Pete’ me,” he says and Carol looks at you, clearly stifling a laugh. “I always knew you two would end up together! I told everyone it would happen. Right, guys?” He shouts, looking over his shoulder.

They all either nod or offer some version of “yeah” and Peter swings his head back to look at you, the grin still firmly on his face.

“Thanks, Pete,” you say, trying for your most convincing smile to match his excitement.

“Yeah, thanks, buddy,” Carol adds and Peter nods, pulling you each into another quick hug before excitedly moving on, leaving you and Carol baffled.

“This is the coolest!” You hear him shout back at you, already halfway across the room.

“Oh boy,” you say and Carol chuckles.

“Let’s just hope we made the right decision by not telling him the truth.”

“Yeah, and let’s hope we don’t completely break his heart when he finds out it isn’t real.”

Games night at the compound always end up being a fun time. It usually starts early and finishes late, and it certainly helps that Tony always makes sure there’s plenty of alcohol readily available for the adults.

After the day you’ve already had, you don’t hesitate in the slightest when Bucky offers you your first drink. Carol takes one too, though regular alcohol has practically no effect on her these days. She usually likes to drink for the social side of it, unless Thor is around. In which case, the two of them tend to try to outdrink each other with Thor’s Asgardian alcohol.

It only takes a couple of drinks for you to feel pretty buzzed and you decide to sit out playing the games in favour of watching everyone else play while you sip your next few drinks. This very quickly just turns into you watching Carol as she laughs freely, everyone in the middle of a particularly inappropriate round of Cards Against Humanity.

As hard as you try, you can’t keep your eyes off her, even after the few times she catches you staring at her. She wears that light blush that you’ve become so fond of on her cheeks, as if she’s suddenly shy to receive attention from you.

You’re next to Nat, who of course does nothing but make fun of you for staring at Carol the whole night.

“Could you undress her with your eyes any more?” she teases, laughing when you huff out an annoyed breath. “Thinking about that kiss you two shared?”

You look at her in question and she shrugs at you. “What? It’s already all over the internet.”

“Of course it is,” you blush.

“You both seemed pretty into it.” She bumps your shoulder with hers and raises her eyebrows at you.

“Yeah, well. It was just a fake kiss, so,” you fade off with a shrug. You take another sip of your drink and cast your eyes to the ground with a pout.

“Aw, come on. Don’t be sad. You know what will make you feel better? Cuddling with your boo,” Nat jokes and you glare at her. It only takes another second before your eyes find Carol again and you’re surprised to find her eyes already on you, looking curiously between you and Nat.

“You know what? Maybe it will,” you throw back at Nat as if it was some kind of insult and you glare at her once more before standing and making your way over to Carol, ignoring Nat’s laughter from behind you as you go.

“Hey there,” Carol smiles up at you and in your current state you waste no time dropping down on the couch next to her, pressing into her side.

“Hey,” you say back, your lips still forming the pout that Nat had put there.

“Everything okay?” Carol turns from the game for a moment, her attention solely on you.

“Mhmm,” you nod, though your unchanging expression says otherwise. Carol watches you for a beat before placing her arm around you.

“You sure?” She asks kindly. You take full advantage of your new position and press yourself further into Carol’s side.

“Yeah. I’m just pretty tired,” you mumble, offering her a half-convincing smile.

“Okay. Did you want me to walk you to your room so you can get some sleep?” Carol offers, already moving to get up.

“No,” you say, pulling her back. “I’m good here for a while.”

“Okay.” She’s slightly confused but happy nonetheless, and she continues to play the game from this position. You watch in contentment for a few more minutes before your alcohol induced tiredness gets the better of you and you scoot even closer to Carol, leaning your weight on her and pressing your head into her chest.

Carol wraps her arm around you a little tighter, smiling to herself, and without even thinking she leans down to press a soft kiss to the top of your head.

Of course, she’s too preoccupied to see Peter next to you, grabbing his phone out to take a quick selfie.

————————

You wake up remarkably warm.

You seriously feel like you’ve never felt so comfortable in your entire life. You snuggle closer to the source of warmth, sighing contently before recognising the gentle rise and fall of someone breathing beneath you.

You immediately panic, pushing yourself back and into an upright position on the bed to find Carol lying next to you, startled by your sudden movements.

“You’re awake! I thought I’d never get you off me,” she jokes, a teasing smile on her lips. “Thanks for scaring me half to death in the process.”

“Yeah, uh. What are you doing here, Car?” You rub your eyes, trying to make sense of things. A quick look around confirms that you are definitely in your allocated room.

“You seriously don’t remember?” Carol’s light expression switches to a fond kind of glare which she can’t seem to hold for even a second before she’s smiling at you again.

You shrug, wracking your brain for answers but coming up short. Man, you really were a lightweight these days.

“You don’t remember me forcing you to get up from the couch so I could walk you to your room last night, only to have you drag me in here and refuse to let me leave?”

“Oh. No. Sorry about that,” you reply sheepishly, a blush adorning your cheeks. Carol laughs at you.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” She sits up and like last night, you can’t seem to keep your eyes off her. “I did get a text from Tony that they want us in the briefing room soon, though. So it’s the perfect time for us to both get up, anyway.”

You nod and watch Carol rise from the bed, stretching her arms above her head and causing the hem of her shirt to rise. It’s a struggle for you not to look at the newly exposed skin, her muscles tightening as she stretches, and it takes everything in you to turn your head away.

You look at your bedside table where there is a glass of water and an aspirin which you eagerly take, easily draining the glass of its contents.

You put the glass down beside your phone, smiling when you notice that Carol had obviously plugged the charger in for you the previous night. Your brow furrows and your smile quickly fades, however, when the screen lights up and you see the long list of notifications you have.

You scroll through them to figure out the reason when you see a notification from Instagram that you received late last night, “@spiderman_official tagged you in a post”.

You hesitate before clicking on the notification. You don’t recall taking any photos with Peter last night, so you’re not sure if you’re just curious or a little scared to see what he tagged you in.

The photo loads and you study it, unable to stop the smile that tugs at your lips. It’s a selfie. Peter’s familiar grin is visible but he’s added large heart stickers over his eyes in an effort to keep his identity hidden.

Your eyes immediately land on you and Carol, who are sat beside Peter in the image. Your head is buried into Carol’s chest and Carol has her lips pressed to the top of your head, an unmistakable smile on her face.

Peter’s caption reads “LOVE is LOVE and I LOVE LOVE!!” with several different coloured heart emojis.

Your heart swells at the photo and you roll your eyes affectionately at Peter’s caption. Though, who said anything about love!?

“I’m gonna go to my room and shower. I’ll meet you in the briefing room in, like, half an hour?” Carol asks on her way to the door and you nod in confirmation.

“Okay.” You smile brightly at her and she smiles back, albeit somewhat confused, and you watch her leave.

You stand up from your bed, pleasantly surprised at how well you were fairing considering what you were like last night, and make your way into the bathroom to get ready.

————————

You arrive at the briefing room with a minute or two to spare and find Carol already seated at the table, a mug of hot coffee at her lips. She gestures to another mug in front of the seat next to her and you smile gratefully.

“Oh my god, you’re too good to me,” you say, sitting down and taking a sip of the fresh coffee. Carol watches you for a moment.

“I only treat you how you deserve to be treated,” she says quietly, which is not at all what you were expecting her to say. You aren’t sure how to respond, but thankfully at that moment Steve and Tony walk through the door, bidding you good morning.

“You two did well yesterday!” Tony starts. “I thought the public kiss was good on its own, but then you top it off with Peter’s Instagram post? Bravo,” Tony claps in approval.

“Peter’s post? What post?” Carol speaks up, looking at you with a puzzled face. Tony pauses, immediately stopping his clapping.

“Wait. That wasn’t a set up you organised? Oh, that makes it so much better.” Tony laughs, unable to hide even the slightest bit of amusement.

“It’s not important. It still works in your favour,” Steve reassures, trying to move the conversation on when he notices the deep blush starting to appear on your face. Despite his words, Carol still pulls her phone out, presumably to open Instagram.

Tony’s laughter doesn’t falter in the slightest.

“Anyway,” Steve says at the same time that you notice Carol’s face turn a deep red, turning her phone off and putting it away. Tony laughs even harder, earning himself a harsh glare from Carol.

“Tony?” Steve says with a sense of authority to his voice.

“Yeah?” Tony manages through his laughter. Steve gives him a pointed look and he straightens up a bit. “Oh, right.” It takes a good few moments for him to collect himself and when he does he tries to take the conversation as seriously as Steve again.

“We’ve decided that since we seem to be on the right track now, we can take things to the next level. Conveniently for us, Thor will be returning to Earth in the next couple of days. Since it’s been a while since we’ve seen him, I thought, 'why not throw him a welcome back party?’”

“Usually, reporters are all over this kind of event.” Steve takes over. “We will all be there, and with Y/N and Carol being the hot new topic, everyone will want to get a glimpse of you two at your first official public appearance as a couple.”

“Do the other appearances not count? You ask.

“They do. But they don’t really show anyone how serious you are as a couple. Let’s face it. Tony’s parties have been where Carol has gotten herself into trouble in the past.”

“Hey!” Carol interrupts, but Steve continues.

“If you both show up together, as each other’s dates, it will make everything official. Peter’s post has already been a huge help, too. I think this will sell it for everyone who may still be on the fence about you two as a couple.”

“That is if Danvers can keep it in her pants.” Tony smirks and Carol just about jumps over the table trying to take a swipe at him.

Steve catches your eye in between the two of them and he smiles, rolling his eyes at their antics. You shake your head with your own smile in response.

“So when is this party happening, then?” You ask, pulling Carol back by the arm and giving her a cautionary look which she pouts at.

“Thor will be back by Friday at the latest, so we’ve decided that Saturday is the best option for everyone.” You nod.

“Oh, and I’ve already asked Happy to organise your outfits, so no need to worry about any of that,” Tony adds.

“Happy is organising our outfits!?” You sound unconvinced at best.

“You’d be surprised, he’s actually pretty good.” You laugh. You honestly learn something new here everyday.

“Are we all set here then, ladies?” Steve asks.

“We’re all good. Thanks, guys.”

The meeting ends how they all usually do. Steve and Tony leaving you and Carol on your own to wonder how the hell you got into this position.


	4. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, we all know this took way too long. I’m still not even entirely sure I’m happy with this chapter even after rewrites and edits but I’m not gonna have you guys wait any longer so this is what I’ve got for you! A head’s up, this part is long. Like, looong. As this is the final part to the series I really would appreciate any feedback people have for this part and the series as a whole! Also may consider writing an epilogue maybe sometime but that depends on feedback from this part!  
> Really hope you enjoy this and I’d like to thank everyone who has read this series and liked/shared it!

“So. How’s it going with Carol?”

You and Nat are both lazing beside each other on the large couch in the open entertainment area of the compound, a blanket thrown over you both while some movie Nat had put on plays on the large screen on the wall.

A handful of the team had left earlier that afternoon for a mission, so you and Nat had decided to wait in the open room for them to return, knowing they’ll pass you on their way back into the compound. Carol was included in this mission and you were maybe a little too eager to see her return.

“Everything’s going according to plan,” you reply with a shrug. “We’re going to Tony’s party together on Saturday night.”

“Aw, cute,” she teases and you can’t help but chuckle at her.

“Stop it.”

“Stop what?” All you can do is shake your head at her. Nat glances at you before watching the screen again. “Seriously, Y/N. Don’t you think that by now you should be able to admit your feelings for her? With what you’re going through, I think you should be allowed to vent and talk to someone about it.”

You remain silent for a long moment.

Out of everyone here, Natasha has always been the one who can read you so well, often times even better than yourself. So, you obviously know that she would have picked up on your feelings for Carol shortly after they developed, very likely before you had even known about them.

And Nat has always been one of your closest friends here besides Carol, so you know that anything you speak to her about will be kept between the two of you.

That’s what gives you the confidence to whisper a quiet “You’re right”, Natasha’s eyes flying from the screen to look at you again. She stays quiet but she doesn’t move her eyes from you.

“At least before all of this I could try to ignore it. But now- it’s impossible.” Your shoulders slump as you voice your thoughts. “I mean, we kissed, Nat. And it was so much better than I could have imagined.”

You let out a tired sigh and run your hand across your face. “I should have never agreed to this. How could I have expected this to end well?”

“Hey, listen. Things might not be how they were before this whole thing started, but why does that mean it has to be a bad thing?”

You look at Nat skeptically and she offers you a confident nod.

“Let’s go over the facts, okay? You and Carol have been flirting with each other for forever, though you’ve been trying to convince yourselves that it’s just playful banter. She practically melts every time you smile at her, which is a lot. I wish I’d never noticed the amount of times she’s undressed you with her eyes when you don’t look. And she literally took it upon herself to become the softest girlfriend imaginable without even realising that there was a camera on her.”

You blink at Nat as she lists things off, your mind racing at her words.

“So let’s face it. You both have feelings for each other. And correct me if I’m wrong but I think you might finally be starting to realise her feelings too, just like the rest of us always have.” Your blush is answer enough for Nat. “So who says that you both can’t come out of this with an even better relationship than you had before?”

You open your mouth to respond, but approaching voices make you stop. The returning Avengers walk into the room, voices booming and laughing loudly. You can’t make out a single word as they loudly chatter over the top of each other.

Amongst the group, Tony spots you and Natasha on the couch.

“There’s our best girls!” He says, grinning at the sight of you both. This causes Carol to glance in your direction too, finding your eyes already on her.

You smile and wave at her, though you feel a little dejected when she does nothing more than glance at you and Nat, giving you what barely qualifies as a smile and nods.

“You all made it back in one piece, then?” Nat asks.

“Depends on what you define as ‘one piece’,” Bucky replies cheekily, holding up his metal arm.

Nat snorts in response. “You’re an idiot.”

“Well I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m pretty beat. I’m turning in for the night,” Steve announces. The rest of the team nod in agreement, aside from Carol, who thinks she’s being subtle about looking at you, and Tony.

“I think I might head to the lab for a while. I’ve got some things to work on,” he says.

“Alright, suit yourself. See you all tomorrow,” Steve waves and heads in the direction of the team’s private rooms, the rest of the group in tow.

Carol seems unsure of what to do, moving to take a step after the group as she watches them walk away, but ultimately staying put where she is.

You hear Natasha let out a light laugh next to you and your eyes leave Carol’s form as Nat pushes the blanket off her lap and stands up, shooting you a quick wink.

“Need any help in the lab?” She asks, catching up to Tony.

“Sure. Although, I don’t know how much help I’m gonna get from you in there,” he jokes, earning himself a shove from Nat as they both laugh.

Carol watches them leave, keeping her eyes on the empty doorway for another moment before turning back to you. She finds your form somewhere in the pile of blankets you’ve been left with on the couch.

You sit up and adjust your position on the couch, acutely aware of her eyes on you the entire time.

“Well, are you gonna come sit with me, then?”

“Do you want me to?” Your brow furrows on its own accord at her cautious tone.

“Of course I do.”

She walks over to the couch and stops short, oddly quiet as she glances at you. You pat the spot next to you where Nat had just been and she smiles at you before sitting down.

“The mission went well, then?”

She nods. “Yeah, it went as smoothly as we could have hoped. It was pretty tiring, though. I’m definitely just glad to be back here now,” she says, her voice softening, and she maintains eye contact with you despite to hint of pink appearing on her cheeks.

“Yeah, me too,” you say.

You both just smile at one another until Carol eventually breaks the eye contact to look at the screen.

“So what are you watching?”  
“Oh,” you say as you glance at the screen now, too. “I don’t actually know. Something Nat picked out that I really wasn’t paying a lot of attention to, to be honest.”

“Right.” There’s a beat of silence and you can how lost in thought Carol seems to be. “So what were you paying attention to, then?”  
“Hmm?”

“Well, something obviously had you distracted,” she alludes and you catch onto what she’s implying pretty quickly.

“You’re still jealous of Nat?” You say it in a teasing tone, though you’re too busy studying Carol’s every move and expression to bother with the accompanying teasing smirk.

She shrugs, struggling to keep her eyes on you.

“You two just seem very close lately.”

“And you and I don’t?” You shoot back gently, curious to see how far you could push the particular topic.

At her stuttering, blush filled response, you touch her arm and she stops and looks at you.

“Nat and I aren’t together, if that’s what you’re wondering. Never have been and never will be.”

At this point, you aren’t sure if you imagine the relief that crosses Carol’s face or not, but it gives you the confidence that you need to get your next sentence out.

“Besides, as much as I love Nat, she’s well aware that she’s not my favourite.”

Carol is once again lost for words. She blinks at you a couple times before a rare shy smile graces her face.

“Okay, now that we’ve got that out of the way.” You reach across Carol for the remote and turn off whatever movie Nat had put on, going back to Netflix’s main page. “What do you want to watch?”

You hand Carol the remote and she begins searching through the selection of movies. While she does, you throw the blanket over her too, unable to hide your own smile.

“Ooh, I love this movie!” She says, landing on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and hitting play and you both fall into a comfortable silence as the movie plays. This goes on for another 20 or so minutes before you glance at Carol, who you only just now realise looks absolutely exhausted.

Her eyes are still happily glued to the screen, though, so you don’t bother to try to coax her to go to bed. You instead move to rest your head on her shoulder and she throws an arm over you to pull you closer. You happily shift your body to melt further into Carol’s.

You’re not really sure how much more of the movie plays before your eyes close and you drift off to sleep.

————————

“Well isn’t this just the cutest thing?”

You’re pulled out of your slumber from the voice coming from somewhere above you. You barely react, though, scrunching your face and shifting your body a little, eyes remaining tightly shut.

“Quick, Nat. Get a photo.” This has you opening your eyes.

Clint and Nat are both standing over you, wide grins on their faces as they look down at where you and Carol are still huddled together on the couch. There’s blankets still covering you both, and you’re practically lying on top of Carol.

“What the fuck are you two doing?!” You growl as quietly as you can manage, glancing down at Carol to ensure you don’t wake her up as you careful manoeuvre yourself into a seated position.

“Oh, nothing. Just documenting this moment so on your wedding day you two can look back at how this all started and laugh,” Nat says, pointing her phone at you and taking several photos.

“I’m actually going to kill you,” you hiss, feeling Carol stir next to you.

“What the hell is going on?” She rubs her eyes and attempts to focus on the scene she’s suddenly found herself in.

“Why don’t you tell us, Miss “We’re not a real couple” Danvers,” Clint quips.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you wanted to die today,” Carol snarls back, her face immediately shifting into a harsh glare towards Clint.

“Alright, we’ve both already had our lives threatened, so I think it’s time we leave you two alone,” Nat laughs. She winks before she turns away and you grab a cushion from the couch and throw it after her as her and Clint walk away.

“Sometimes I forget that we’re surrounded by assholes almost all of the time here,” Carol deadpans and you chuckle, moving aside to allow her to sit up.

“Sorry I fell asleep on you last night. I’m starting to make a real habit of that, huh?”

“I don’t mind,” she says, that same smile from last night returning to her face. You smile back and for a long moment you both just sit there smiling at each other until your grumbling stomach breaks the silence.

Carol laughs at you. “Time for breakfast, then?” She teases, standing up and grabbing your arms to help you to your feet too. “Come on.” You both head towards the kitchen and when you enter the room, you stop at the sight of a familiar figure already behind the counter.

“Thor!” You exclaim, racing the rest of the way into the kitchen. Thor turns around and is greeted by you practically tackling him into a hug, though he doesn’t even slightly budge from the force of you colliding with him. Instead, he happily throws his arms around you too, beaming.

“Y/N! I missed you!”

Carol leans against the bench and looks on fondly.

Thor is practically like a big brother to you so you absolutely love it whenever he returns back to Earth from whatever space adventures he’s been on. When you two separate, Thor notices Carol too.

“Ah, Carol! Good to see you!” She smiles and nods. As you watch their somewhat awkward interaction, you can’t help but chuckle at the memory of when Thor once tried to hug Carol in greeting and got photon blasted halfway across the room.

They get along just fine. Pretty well, in fact. Carol always speaks highly of Thor and vice versa. But Carol just isn’t particularly affectionate with anyone besides you. And maybe Peter on the odd occasion.

She tends to not really expect it and usually reacts poorly, always offering a sheepish apology to whoever happens to be on the receiving end. But that had never really been an issue with you, which you’re glad about because you are definitely a hugger.

And if Carol really had to, she’d admit that she actually enjoys that about you, despite her general distaste of physical forms of affection.

“Woah, that’s a lot of pancakes, Thor,” you say, noticing multiple stacks on plates across the counter. Thor had always been a sucker for his favourite breakfast food since his first visit to Earth and whenever he comes back he can’t seem to get enough of them. He’d spent days upon days trying to perfect his recipe and make the perfect pancakes.

“Oh, please help yourself!” He happily offers and you and Carol thank him before grabbing a small stack of pancakes each.

“Were you gonna eat all of these on your own if we hadn’t shown up?” Carol asks Thor, who already has half a pancake stuffed in his mouth. He blinks at her, chewing on his food and swallowing it.

“…No,” he eventually replies, not even slightly convincing. You and Carol both laugh and he just shrugs before shoving the other half of his pancake in his mouth. “What can I say? I have a large appetite,” he mumbles out around his mouthful of food.

“When did you get back?” You ask.

“Early this morning.” You nod before noticing a shift in Thor’s expression. “You know, I noticed you on the couch this morning as I walked in. I almost said hello then until I realised you were both asleep.”

It’s not exactly a question he asks, not even an implication. It’s really just a statement. But the smile on his face tells you he thinks he knows what’s going on.

It’s honestly something you’ve always loved about Thor. The fact that he never outright voices his speculations about people’s personal lives, unlike the rest of the Avengers. Of course you always tell him everything eventually anyway, but until that happens he always gives you the space he feels you need to avoid making you uncomfortable.

Given the situation, though, you know you better give him the heads up before his welcome back party.

“Yeah. There’s definitely some things we need to catch up on,” you chuckle nervously.

“While you two do that, I’m gonna go get ready for the day. We’re still heading out today, right?” Carol asks, standing from her seat at the breakfast bar.

“Yeah,” you confirm.

When you last spoke to Steve and Tony, they were happy with how well you and Carol were doing and asked you to just make one more appearance out somewhere leading up to the party.

“Okay, I’ll meet you by the front in, like, 3 hours?”

“Sure,” you say and you and Thor watch as she leaves.

When you look back at Thor he has a cheery smile on his face, and you spend well over an hour explaining the situation, even confessing your feelings for Carol to him. You ask him about his most recent adventures, too, but being the type of guy he is, he’s more interested in listening to what you have to say and offering you advice.

You seriously couldn’t have picked anyone better to refer to as your big brother.

You eventually go your separate ways so you can get ready and catch up with Carol again. You check your watch on your way. You’re a little early but knowing Carol, she’s likely already there waiting for you.

You stop short before you walk through the walkway to the lobby of the compound when you hear Carol’s voice in conversation with someone else in the room.

“Do you think you’ll miss being able to flirt with as many women as you can at the party, then?” You recognise the other voice as Rhodey’s.

“I don’t know. Maybe,” Carol replies. “I mean, I usually find these parties a lot of fun. This one won’t be like that, though. I’m being made to stay on my best behaviour,” she jokes.

“So then what about Y/N? She’s holding you back from having fun?”

“It’s not that,” Carol says. “It’s just.. Tony’s parties are usually where I get to let loose, you know? I get to forget about all my responsibilities, forget about all the missions gone wrong and just enjoy myself. But this whole situation with Y/N.. it just kinda feels like I’m being kept on a leash.”

You’d be lying if you said Carol’s words didn’t sting. Ever since this whole mess of a situation began, you felt like things with Carol had been shifting. That things were different, even better now than before, like Natasha had said. But it sounds like maybe Carol doesn’t quite agree with you.

Had you really been wrong this whole time? Had Nat and the others swayed you into thinking that Carol shared the same feelings as you? Did Carol really think that you were holding her back from being happy and having fun?

Had you really been so blinded by your own feelings for so long that you had just been imagining Carol’s longing looks, more frequent touches, more caring nature towards you? Even when the cameras were nowhere to be scene.

Maybe she was just playing along to spare your feelings until she was told she could be done with this.

All these thoughts hit you at once, and despite how overwhelmed and hurt you suddenly feel, you take a deep breath and approach the doorway, taking heavier than usual steps to make your presence known before you enter.

“Hey, there you are,” Carol smiles. You offer her a short smile in return, though it doesn’t quite make it to your eyes, and you walk up to the front door and wait for Carol to join you. She approaches you, eyes watching you carefully. “Are you-“

“Let’s just keep this simple today and get it over with, yeah?” You say, eyes still remaining ahead as you reach for her hand.

She looks you over, concerned, but nods in response. “Yeah, okay.”

You lead her along in silence, which is how most of your simple walk goes. You smile at all the right times, but you manage to keep the talking down to a minimum and the second you return to the compound you bid a short farewell to Carol and leave her standing alone, confused like never before.

————————

You manage to keep to yourself for the most part over the next day or so, though as the party approaches you know you can’t really continue avoiding everyone. Especially since you and Carol had already agreed to get ready together in your room.

As promised by Tony, Happy delivered your outfits to your rooms in time for the party. Carol is currently in your bathroom getting ready while you look yourself over in your mirror, smoothing your hands over the front of your dress. You’re wearing a navy a-line dress, with spaghetti straps and a side slit exposing the skin of your leg. Simple yet beautiful.

Your bathroom door opens while you admire your dress in the mirror and your eyes drift to the reflection of the doorway as Carol hesitantly steps through. Your breath is taken away from you as you look her over.

She’s wearing a navy suit jacket and a pair of tight trousers that match your dress, a white blouse underneath, the top button left undone. You feel your brain short circuit as you look at her. Again, the outfit itself is simple but it works so well. Especially on Carol.

Tony was right; Happy is good. You’ll have to compliment him on his unexpectedly good eye for fashion the next time you see him.

She joins you in front of the full length mirror, staring at her own form and nervously adjusting the jacket.

“I’m pretty sure this is the fanciest I have ever looked heading to one of Tony’s parties,” she admits. You chuckle and double check your makeup in the mirror, happy with what you’ve done. Carol seems to be doing the same but is evidently not pleased with some of her makeup, grabbing her eyeliner to attempt to fix it.

“Here,” you hold your hand out and she passes her eyeliner pen over to you. Carol has never really been as into makeup as you, which obviously makes a lot of sense with her being up in space so often. But you’re always more than happy to assist whenever she needs help with it.

She’s gotten much better with it on her own over the years, though, what with her increase in social events with the Avengers. As a result, you only have to fix her eyeliner a little on each eye before you pull back and check your work.

“Perfect,” you say, putting down the eyeliner and turning to the mirror once more. Looking at yourself and Carol next to each other, it’s striking just how good you both look together. You may be biased, but everything just seems to fit so well.

You feel eyes on you and catch Carol’s gaze in the mirror.

“You look beautiful,” she breathes out as if she’s only just looked at you in your dress for the first time.

You can’t help it, but the words you overheard her say replay in your head. You feel your walls build up around you, telling you to be cautious to spare your own feelings.

“Thanks, so do you.” You reply somewhat stiffly. You can’t seem to do anything about the tone you speak in, so instead you drop your eyes from her and scan the room for anything else you might need, acutely aware of the step Carol takes towards you.

“Are you okay?” She asks and her hand comes to rest delicately on the side of your neck, her thumb stroking your cheek.

“Yeah, of course,” you say a little too quickly for Carol’s liking and you step back out of her reach, her hand falling back to her side. You spot your phone on the edge of your bed and pick it up, checking the time. “We better go. You ready?”

You barely give Carol room to answer before you open your door and step out into the hallway. She swallows thickly as she watches you, trying to figure out what’s changed in the last day or so to have you in such a cold mood.

When she steps out of your room to join you, she’s also greeted by Tony. He has a huge grin on his face and he whistles when he sees her.

“Wow, look at you two. Stunning.” He smiles at you like a proud dad. “So, listen. It’s a welcome back party, right? I know it’s still kinda fancy but it’s about as casual as my parties will ever get. There shouldn’t be too much pressure on the two of you.”

“Got it,” you nod.

“Obviously there will still be a lot of eyes on you. But that’s kind of the entire point. Just act like any regular, happy couple and we’ll be all set.” Tony says. “See you in there.” He smiles encouragingly at you and walks away, presumably to join the party.

Carol offers you her hand, which you take, and she walks you towards the large hall that Tony has designated for the party. You’re glad he chose one that was further away from the bedrooms. It gave you plenty of time to attempt to calm your nerves.

You walk through the large open doors and immediately it feels like all eyes are on you. It’s a feeling you aren’t at all comfortable with, but you just try to ignore it the best you can.

“Y/N!” You hear being called from the bar and look to see Thor enthusiastically waving you and Carol over. Carol nods at you and you walk hand in hand towards the bar.

The second you get near Thor he engulfs you both in a hug which Carol couldn’t have avoided even if she tried. He lets go of you with a massive smile on his face.

“Carol, may I interest you in a proper drink?” He holds up a flask of Asgardian alcohol for her to see and her face lights up until she glances at you.

“Uh, I better not tonight, actually,” she mutters. And again, her damn words from the previous day are right back in your head.

Thor doesn’t hide his surprise at her answer. “Later, then?” He asks hopefully.

“Maybe. We’ll see.”

Thor nods and sees Steve approaching the bar, eagerly pouring a drink for him and handing it over to him. Carol looks more than tempted to reconsider Thor’s offer but instead pulls you away by your linked hands to join another conversation.

This goes on for the next couple of hours, moving between groups to chat and give a pretty convincing appearance as couple of the year. You eventually find yourself standing against the wall with Carol, observing the partygoers.

“It’s going well so far, right?” Carols asks.

“I think so,” you say with a shrug, though you’re honestly unsure quite how to gauge how well it’s going just yet.

“Have you actually noticed any reporters?”

“I’m not sure. There’s been a lot of eyes on us the entire night so far, though, so I figure that’s a good thing.”

“Yeah. Do you think we should be acting more couple-y?” Carol asks, facing you more directly. She moves her hand to your waist, looking at you in question.

Of course, you lose yourself in her eyes, allowing yourself to enjoy this feeling for just a moment. You’re only human, after all. But it doesn’t take long for her words to repeat in your head once more, and not even the way Carol glances down at your lips can get you out of your own head.

Before she can kiss you, you lean forward to press a quick kiss to her cheek.

“I think we’re doing okay,” you offer a small smile and pull away. “I’m gonna grab another drink and go talk to Wanda if that’s alright with you?”

“Oh. Sure, that’s fine.”

“I’ll come find you soon,” you say, squeezing Carol’s hand for good measure before you leave her to watch after you in total confusion as you walk away.

————————

“Hey, Thor. That drink still on offer?”

“Yes!” Thor says excitedly. Carol leans against the bar next to him and as soon as he’s done pouring her a drink she takes a sip.

“Oh, Jesus. I forgot how strong this shit is,” she winces and Steve laughs from the other side of Thor.

“I know, right?” He says, holding his drink up before drinking what’s left in his glass.

Carol knows to pace herself with this stuff. It affects her like absolutely nothing else. Usually, when Thor is there to offer it to her, she goes hard and ends up waking up in the bed of a total stranger with no recollection of what happened, though with a pretty good idea.

That can’t happen tonight for obvious reasons.

As Thor launches into one of his insanely eventful stories, she rests her arm on the bar and sips her drink, surveying the room until she spots you. You’re standing with Wanda, laughing at something the other woman has just said.

Something stirs inside Carol as she loosely follows along with Thor’s recounting of his journeys, all the while periodically looking for you amongst the many people crowding the room. She watches you excuse yourself from Wanda, heading over to talk to Sam and Bucky.

Somewhere in the middle of Thor recounting the events of a very graphic battle that he was apart of, Tony joins the conversation. Carol nods at him, taking another sip of her drink and doing another scan of the room. She eventually finds you in the crowd.

Having excused yourself from Sam and Bucky, you’re en-route to another group when a beautiful woman shows up seemingly out of nowhere, touching your arm to get your attention. Carol immediately freezes, her eyes locking in on the action. You stop to chat with the girl, a soft smile on your face that Carol regrettably realises she hasn’t seen all night until now.

Hey eyes stay glued to you, Thor’s stories long forgotten. Tony moves over to stand next to Carol.

“You two have done well tonight, you know?” He says, his eyes on the party in front of him. 

“You’re not playing it too strong, too. The perfect amount of PDA in my opinion.” At the lack of a response, Tony turns his head to look at Carol. She clearly hasn’t paid attention to a word he’s said and he curiously turns to see whatever has Carol’s attention.

He sees you, laughing at something the unknown woman has just said. She takes a step closer to you as you take a sip of your drink. He looks back, studying the expression on Carol’s face for a moment.

“Wait a second, what exactly is happening here, Danvers? Don’t tell me you’re jealous?”  
Carol’s eyes finally move from you, snapping to Tony’s.

“What? No. I’m just worried about our cover.”

Tony arches a disbelieving eyebrow. “Uh huh, I’m sure that’s exactly what you’re worried about.”

Carol glares at him, a common occurrence these days, but then her eyes are back on you, unable to help herself. She furrows her brow when the woman places her hand on your arm and keeps it there and she finally can’t watch anymore.

“Alright,” she says, grabbing her glass and downing the rest of her drink with a wince. “Nice chat, Stark, but I’ve gotta go.” She slams her glass back on the bar counter before storming off towards you without another word. Tony watches her leave.

“Yep. She’s got it so bad.”

You are so focused on the woman standing right in front of you that you jump when an arm appears at your waist.

“Hey babe,” Carol greets. She presses a kiss to your cheek and turns to the other woman, offering her nothing short of the fakest smile you’ve ever seen.

“Sorry, do you mind if I steal my girlfriend for a minute?”

To the woman’s credit, she does look a little sheepish as she steps back. “No, go right ahead.”

“Thanks,” Carol says with a bite to her tone, grabbing your hand and dragging you through the party and to one of the smaller balconies attached to the hall.

When you’re sure you’re out of sight and out of earshot from at least the majority of the party-goers you rip your hand out of Carol’s grasp and sharply turn to her, stopping her in her tracks with your glare.

“What the hell, Danvers?”

“What? I can’t just have you potentially blowing our cover like that.”

“Oh, please,” you scoff. “Our cover is just fine. Nothing was even happening. I was just talking to her.”

“Just talking? It looked like more than that to me. She was on her way to being all over you.”

“All over me like you usually are with as many random girls as you want? So now I can’t even have a regular conversation with just one girl?”

“I haven’t even looked at any other girls tonight, let alone flirted with them. And since when do you chat to women at Tony’s parties, anyway?”

You weren’t expecting the accusatory tone in Carol’s voice, and it makes you see red. You’ve done so well to keep your feelings at bay since you’d overheard Carol talking to Rhodey, but she’s finally tipped you over the edge now.

“Okay, I think I get it now. You can’t have fun and let loose like usual so now you want to make me feel like shit for talking to someone new. Is that right?”

Carol is completely caught off guard by your anger. It would have been hard for her not to notice your cold demeanour the last couple days, but now she knows for sure that all has been directed at her. 

“Y/N, that’s not it-“

“Are you sure? Because I know you think I’m the one keeping on a leash but right now it’s feeling a lot like it’s the other way around.”

“What?” Carol blinks at you, trying to make sense of your words.

“Well that’s what you told Rhodey, right? You’re being held back. You can’t have any fun. You’re being kept on a leash.”

“Y/N,” Carol starts.

“Don’t try to deny it, Carol. I heard you say it.”

Everything actually makes sense to Carol now. She isn’t sure how she hadn’t pieced it together before that you’d possibly overheard her. At least now, though, she knew she could clear things up for you. Thank god, because she’s now gotten a taste of being in your bad books and she isn’t particularly enjoying it.

“I won’t deny it. I do feel like I’m being kept on a leash,” she simply says. You scoff again and shake your head, already getting ready to walk away before Carol grabs your arm to keep you in place.

“But I never said you were the one holding me back. Hell, you’re the one thing keeping me sane through this whole thing.”

You maintain your harsh glare, though you stop trying to pull your arm from her.

“I just,” she lets out a short breath and looks at you. “I’m not used to having my every move monitored so closely. I’ve never had to behaviour particularly well at these things. It’s weird and uncomfortable and it’s hard for me to deal with but you’ve helped me a hell of a lot with everything.”

Your glare softens at the vulnerability that Carol has on show for you. She’s always struggled to express her feelings. She can’t find the right words and says things the wrong way half the time and you feel stupid that you hadn’t just asked Carol directly about what you’d overheard, given her track record with miscommunication.

You’d been too in your thoughts about your feelings for Carol and her possible feelings for you that you’d read things so wrong. You made an assumption and made things so much worse. You cringe at this situation you’ve somehow managed to cause. You’re just glad it hadn’t been a lot worse and that Carol was so forgiving of your occasionally petty behaviour.

“You know better than anyone that I don’t really respond well with being told what to do.”

You chuckle lightly at her and her face brightens at the sound.

“So you’re saying that you do have fun with me, then?” Carol laughs, thankful to not have your glare aimed her way anymore.

“You already know I do. In fact, I really liked the parts of the party that we spent together tonight. You know, despite you looking like you’d rather be anywhere else but with me the entire time.”

You roll your eyes at her, not at all surprised that her smart ass comments were already making an appearance again.

“That’s not true,” you laugh and then grow serious again. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be than with you.”

Carol blinks at you and you watch her reaction with bated breath. “Do you mean that?” She asks softly and you smile at her and nod timidly.

“It could ruin everything we have but I don’t think I can keep hiding the fact that I want to be near you all the time anymore.”

“Well I can’t really blame you for that,” Carol says, a hint of a smirk on her face and you let out a laugh and smile widely at her when she almost casually places her arms around your waist.

“Shut up, Danvers,” you mutter.

“Make me,” she promptly replies and you only wait a quick beat before you’re pressing forward and capturing her lips with yours.

If you thought your last kiss was amazing, then this kiss was something completely new all together. The fact that you’re kissing Carol because you both want to, and not because of some fake narrative, has you smiling into the kiss, knocking your teeth with Carol’s.

You pull back, both laughing, before her arms tighten around your waist and she leans in to meet your lips again. She’s tentative with her movements at first; you both are really, but like last time, you both grow more confident and she ends the kiss with a nip to your bottom lip.

“You know, I hated seeing you with that other girl,” Carol admits.

“Yeah? Well, imagine how I felt having to watch you leave with all those women at literally every party Tony throws.”

Carol bites her lip, regret on her face. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” you place your arms around Carol’s neck. “We’re here now. Let’s just leave the past in the past, okay?” You peck her lips reassuringly.

“Okay,” Carol whispers against your lips, stealing one more quick kiss. “Should we go back in?”

You sigh and drop your head to Carol’s shoulder for a second. “I suppose we probably should.”

“Come on. They want to see a happy couple. Let’s show them a happy couple,” Carol says and you lift your head and smile shyly at her, your mind still racing to catch up with these unexpected turn of events.

“Sounds good to me.”

You run your hands down Carol’s shoulders, down her arms until you reach her hands and you take them in your own. Carol lifts one of your hands to her lips and presses a kiss to it, earning a blush from you and she’s unable to fight the cheesy grin that makes its way onto her face.

She walks you to the door and holds it open for you. “After you, my lady,” she says and you laugh.

“Are you going to be this cheesy and chivalrous forever now?” You ask.

“Depends. Do you want me to be?”

“I just want you to be you,” you reply as Carol follows you through the door and takes your hand again.

“And what about you? Are you going to be cheesy forever now, too?” She teases and you chuckle in response before Nat calls you over from the group she’s standing in and you’re removed from the moment you and Carol are sharing together.

Not a problem, you think. You’ve got plenty of opportunities to share even more of these moments with Carol now.

——————————

This time, when you wake up in Carol’s arms, you don’t flinch away. Instead, you wear a sleepy grin on your face and press a soft kiss to her jawline, watching her stir for a moment before she settles again, a soft smile adorning her face.

You happily snuggle closer to her, pressing your face into the crook of her neck and drifting back to sleep without a single worry on your mind for the first time in weeks.


End file.
